English Romanticism - Liceo Quadri

The importance of senses and memory
Nature also means the world of sense
perceptions. Wordsworth exploited above all the
sensibility of the eye and ear through which he
could perceive both the “beauteous forms" of
nature and the sounds of the winds or waters, or
the silence of secluded places. Sensations lead
to simple thoughts, which later combine into
complex and organised ideas. Memory,
therefore, is a major force in the process of
growth of the poet’s mind and moral character,
and it is memory that allows Wordsworth to give
poetry its life and power.
Liceo Statale “Don G. Fogazzaro” 15